The Nibelungenlied · Chapter
Adventure XXIII: How Kriemhilda Thought to Avenge Her Injury explained
Kriemhilda, now Queen of the Huns and mother to Etzel's son Ortlieb, spends years cultivating her reputation and power.
What happens
Kriemhilda, now Queen of the Huns and mother to Etzel's son Ortlieb, spends years cultivating her reputation and power. Nursing her grief over Siegfried's murder, she secretly plots revenge against Hagen and Gunther. She persuades King Etzel to invite her Burgundian kinsmen to a midsummer feast, instructing the envoys to ensure Hagen accompanies them, unaware that this will lead to tragedy.
Themes in this chapter
Revenge and Vengeance
Kriemhilda's primary motivation throughout the chapter: she plots to avenge Siegfried's murder by luring Hagen and Gunther to Hunland.
Betrayal and Deception
Kriemhilda deceives Etzel and the envoys about her true intentions, pretending to seek reconciliation while planning destruction.
Power and Wealth
Kriemhilda's rise to power as Queen of the Huns, her control over treasure, and her ability to command envoys and influence the king.
Characters to notice
- Kriemhilda
Now Queen of the Huns, she secretly plots revenge against Hagen and Gunther for Siegfried's murder, using her influence over Etzel to lure her kinsmen to Hunland.
- Etzel
King of the Huns, loving husband to Kriemhilda, guilelessly agrees to invite her Burgundian relatives to a midsummer feast.
- Hagen
Kriemhilda's primary target for revenge; she specifically instructs the envoys to ensure he does not stay behind in Rhineland.
- King Gunther
Kriemhilda's brother and one of the intended victims of her vengeance; she breaks her friendship with him.
- Giselher
Kriemhilda's younger brother, whom she still loves and dreams of kissing; she asks him to come to Hunland.
- Gernot
Kriemhilda's brother, to whom she sends a loving message, asking him to bring their kinsmen.
- Dame Uté
Kriemhilda's mother, to whom she sends word of her honors.
- Count Eckewart
Kriemhilda's treasurer, who gains friends for her among the Huns.
Key passages
“She thought on all the sorrows that she had known at home. She thought, too, of the honours that once in Niblung-land Had been in her possession; and which by Hagen's hand, At time of Siegfried's murder, were wholly done away: And whether he might ever for that be made to pay.”
Kriemhilda reflects on her past sorrows and the honors she lost when Hagen murdered Siegfried, wondering if she can make Hagen pay.
This passage reveals Kriemhilda's enduring grief and her obsessive desire for revenge.
“I ween some evil devil Kriemhilda did provoke That with her brother Gunther her friendship now she broke, Whom she, in full forgiveness, kiss'd on Burgundian soil.”
The narrator suggests that an evil spirit drove Kriemhilda to break her friendship with Gunther, whom she had once forgiven and kissed.
This highlights the moral ambiguity of Kriemhilda's revenge and the influence of fate or evil forces.
“If thou right truly wouldst serve me, master mine, So wilt thou send an envoy to Worms beyond the Rhine. That I may tell my kinsfolk all that I have in mind.”
Kriemhilda asks Etzel to send envoys to Worms so she can communicate her wishes to her family.
This is the first step in her plan to lure the Burgundians to Hunland.
“If Hagen, too, of Tronjé shall still be dwelling there By whom shall they more fitly be through the country shown? To him the roads to Hunsland from childhood have been known.”
Kriemhilda tells the envoys to mention Hagen, as he knows the roads to Hunland and would be a suitable guide.
This is a subtle trap: she wants Hagen to come so she can exact her revenge.
